Z-5300 and Water Damage

victor_c26

I have a set of Z-5300 (Original Grey speaker covers), and I'm a little worried about water damage.

A friend was over and we were watching some movies on the computer. He was drinking a Coke Zero pop and apparently he was falling asleep and the can slipped from his hands and fell on the floor. The liquid jolted out of the can and landed pretty much everywhere in a 360 degree spray.

Drops of soda landed on my monitor and two big drops landed on my center speaker. I'm not sure about the other two front speakers though, I think one small drop landed on one of them, but I'm not sure.

When removing the wet grill, the speaker didn't seem wet, when I rushed to wash my hands to see if I could feel any wetness on the cone, I didn't seem to feel any wetness. I noticed some shiny small dots on the cone, but I'm not sure if that is dried up soda liquid or gels usually used in speaker manufacturing that was always there.

I also noticed a darker ring around the coil of the speaker, but I wasn't sure if this was already there or if it was because the cone got soaked with soda liquid.

I'd really hate to buy another set of speakers, especially since my intended upgrade path is now discontinued (Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1).

TychoCelchuuu

Does it still sound the same?

victor_c26

I'm pretty sure it does.

That's another thing I'm worried about, that it can dramatically change the original sound of the speaker over time.

Does the fact that the cone looked and felt dry when touching it give any indication that the cone was never wet? I'm not sure how long it can take a wet speaker cone get dry again after the incident.

Can this change the speaker's structure enough to cause long term damage with use?

TychoCelchuuu

I'm not a speaker expert or an audiophile or even a very intelligent person but it seems to me that one of two things happened. Either the speaker was damaged or it wasn't. If it was damaged, I would use it until it doesn't work anymore. If it wasn't I would do the same thing.

So... just keep on using the speakers.

Pheezer

The darker ring around the coil is pretty common on speaker cones. There's no reason to suspect that it was wet even though it felt dry. The only case where a little moisture would be a problem would be if you have a natural fibre speaker cone, like a silk or a paper cone. A paper cone is actually very likely what you do have, and the way moisture would damage it would be by deforming the cone itself. By that I mean if you got it wet enough that it swelled. You'd probably need a good bit of liquid anyhow because a lot of paper cones do have a coating sprayed on to protect them from humidity and incidental moisture.

If it's dry and it appears to have a consistent, smooth surface, it's not damaged. It's not going to suddenly explode and burn down the neighborhood while raping your dog at the same time.

victor_c26

Yeah, it felt dry. Just opening it up right now, tilting the speaker in certain angles against the light lets me see a darker spot on the cone. But it's mostly invisible. Looking at the cone directly with light hitting it directly, that spot can't be seen at all. So I'm not sure if this was already there, or me just seeing things.

And the cone does seem sturdy when tapping it lightly.

Thanatos

Pheezer wrote: »

The darker ring around the coil is pretty common on speaker cones. There's no reason to suspect that it was wet even though it felt dry. The only case where a little moisture would be a problem would be if you have a natural fibre speaker cone, like a silk or a paper cone. A paper cone is actually very likely what you do have, and the way moisture would damage it would be by deforming the cone itself. By that I mean if you got it wet enough that it swelled. You'd probably need a good bit of liquid anyhow because a lot of paper cones do have a coating sprayed on to protect them from humidity and incidental moisture.

If it's dry and it appears to have a consistent, smooth surface, it's not damaged. It's not going to suddenly explode and burn down the neighborhood while raping your dog at the same time.

The worst-case scenario I could see coming out of this is it did wet the cone, the cone dries, and then tears. You'd have to replace the cone. But you wouldn't notice it until the cone actually tears, and if it's going to do that, other than replacing the cone, there's nothing you can do about it. So, I'd relax, put the speaker covers back on, and que sera, sera.

Deusfaux

On another note, the Z5500 might not equal the Klipsch set in some minds, but would still be a worthy upgrade over the 5300 set.